1. Field
The disclosure relates to a display apparatus. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a display apparatus having improved durability.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display apparatus includes a display panel that displays an image, and a driver that drives the display panel. The display panel includes an upper substrate, a lower substrate facing the upper substrate, and an image display layer disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate. When the image display layer is a liquid crystal layer, an alignment layer is further disposed on the lower substrate to initially align liquid crystal molecules included in the liquid crystal layer.
The display panel further includes a spacer disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate to maintain a distance between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, and to ensure durability against external impacts.
In general, since the spacer is not attached to the lower substrate, the alignment layer adjacent to the spacer is scratched by the spacer when external impacts are applied to the display panel. Due to the damaged alignment layer, the liquid crystal molecules are not properly controlled. Consequently, a light leakage occurs in an area corresponding to the damaged portion of the alignment layer.
In addition, a contact area between the spacer and the upper substrate becomes small while the display panel is developed to provide high resolution. As a result, the display panel becomes more vulnerable to the external impacts.